He is a community activist who is aspiring for elected office as a third party candidate but Erwin X got his start as the poet – Erwin Jones. Back then he had a pen and paper – now he is normally in front of a podium with a mic in his hand. But Erwin says that he is first and foremost a poet. And that’s why the release of his first book of poems in 8 years is news. It’s called “Ghetto Food” and it will be officially launched next week but today we got a preview and poetry reading from Erwin himself.
Erwin X,
“Most of my poems highlight the conditions affecting our people and it speaks to the pain, it speaks to the division, it speaks to the political corruption and mismanagement, it speaks to our people that have been ostracized and exiled and denied and rejected and left at the bottom of the system to struggle.
And so I took my time in developing the book and now it is present as a package.
The name ‘Ghetto Food’ Keith, my first book was called ‘Uprising’ and in the book itself there was a poem named ‘Uprising.’ In this particular book there is a poem named ‘Ghetto Food.’ Night time comes and belly the growl and that simply represents poor people and our people who are in the abject situations in this nation. The way we eat in the ghetto, a lot of people don’t have nothing to eat, especially in the city. Man and man eat biscuit at night and are drinking ideal or just rice or dry bread and sugar water. And also ‘Ghetto Food’ represents the mind. If the mind is not properly fed then there is no way for we as a people to advance and develop ourselves. So it works both ways. It is the food for the belly and food for the mind and thought.
As an activist and as a brother now who is making a stand, to say that I want to represent our people politically, I cannot and will not put away my poetry because my poetry is an extension of what I see. As long as I see injustice I have to write and as long as I have a mind, I have to think and therefore I have to take the pen and put it to paper. So poetry for me is my life.”
Copies of the book are available at Erwin’s office on Central American Boulevard. Erwin says his first book “uprising” – sold out in less than a week.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
